The attack on James Shaw

A 47 year old man will appear in court today on assault charges after Green co-leader James Shaw was attacked on his way to Parliament on Thursday.

There has been universal condemnation of the attack from politicians, unsurprisingly. Like most people they will no doubt see it as a deplorable attack on Shaw, and potentially on democracy if there were political motives for the attack.

There is a lot of speculation and very little facts about the assault apart from news that it happened and that Shaw was injured, he continued on to attend a meeting at Parliament, went to hospital the get checked for a possible brain injury, and took leave from Parliament and took the rest of the day off.

This isn’t the first attack on a politician. MPs and have been pushed and shoved. Objects and substances have been thrown at MPs, with once of those attacks (against Nick Smith) landing the assailant in court. Premeditated attacks on Don Brash and Steven Joyce got a lot of media attention but not nowhere near the degree of condemnation thst Shaw’s assault attracted.

The physical assault of Shaw is the worst I have known of and deserves the condemnation it has received.

I will wait until facts are known before discussing motivation and implications. Some have jumped to conclusions and made some wild assertions.

Blazer

High Flying Duck

You’re making assumptions as to what the training was.
I doubt it was a crash course in Krav Maga.
It would probably have been around the language to use to verbally disarm, and how best to extract yourself from these situations.

Corky

All people should have some basic training in self defence. No one expects you to be Bruce Lee. A simple poke in the eyes, or a ball buster, then running away can really increase your survival chances.

Too many people forget trees and jungle vines have only been replaced by concrete and steel. The apes within those confines are still the same.

My wild speculation on the offender:

1- White.
2- Facial hair of some type.
3-Listens to talkback.
4- Either very well educated..or thick as a Labour Party hording.
5- Transient.
6- Possible previous mental issues.

Kitty Catkin

Gezza

Ray

I have a Government job that deals with some people who might feel that I need to be dealt to, they are criminals.
Anyway I was issued with a special card, a license to carry a pistol?
Hardly, it had a special phone number,
111.

Zedd

Corky

Only take 10 minutes a day. As long as it’s not one of those bs classes run by a middlclass yummy mummy called Bree, who has never had a hiding in her life..who teaches things that may get you killed on the street. Things like a reverse wrist lock and come-along. That really does work if you have 3 seconds to spare. A bro can fire off six punches and a kick within that time frame.